What is the folklore story of George Washington crossing the Delaware? Did he throw a silver coin across the river?

essaychess

You are mixing up two Washington legends, earth. He definitely did cross the Delaware to attack the Hessians in Trenton, New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. The other story, which is probably not true, is that he once threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River. While we're at it, he also didn't chop down a cherry tree and later prove his honesty by saying "I cannot tell a lie." Mar 29 00, 12:00 AM

McGruff

Did George Washington really throw a silver dollar across the Potomac River? No. This popular myth is often told to illustrate his strength. The Potomac River is over a mile wide and even George Washington was not that good an athlete! Moreover, there were no silver dollars when Washington was a young man. His step-grandson once wrote that Washington threw a piece of slate across the Rappahannock River near his boyhood home in Fredericksburg, which is much more narrow. That may be the origin of this story. http://www.mountvernon.org/books/myths.asp Across which river did George Washington throw a silver dollar? The river was not the Potomac or the Delaware, but the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, Virginia and Washington threw a piece of slate 'about the size and shape of a dollar,' not a silver dollar, according to Martha Washington's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis. While the story has never been verified, historians concede that the feat is possible. At the site of the Washington family homestead, the Rappahannock measures only 250 feet across, an impressive but not impossible throwing distance. http://www.mountvernon.org/press/2001gwtrivia.asp Apr 02 02, 6:40 PM

theronman2001

Yet another geographical fact needs to be clarified. The www.mountvernon.org website states that the Potomac River is over one mile wide at Mount Vernon. That is true but immaterial. Like the mythical silver dollar, Mount Vernon did not exist at that time either. George grew up about 40 miles downstream. It was reported by Martha's grandson that George threw a stone across the Rappahannock as a boy. The Potomac is approximately five miles across at the George Washington Birthplace National Monument. Aug 21 08, 6:29 PM

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